


Late Night Call

by katikat



Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Episode Related, Friendship, Gen, Sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-19
Updated: 2018-01-19
Packaged: 2019-03-06 19:39:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13418247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katikat/pseuds/katikat
Summary: It’s become a regular thing, a ritual, helping them both unwind after a stressful day. Or, Mac and Cage keep in touch. Mac’s POV. Coda to episode 213. (Unbeta'd)





	Late Night Call

It’s one in the morning when Mac finally crawls into bed, completely exhausted. Every part of his body seems to  _hurt_. And he thought that the Korman Challenge would be a nice break from their everyday world-saving shenanigans. He would laugh if he weren’t so drained.

Still, despite the late hour, despite his tiredness, he reaches out from where he’s fallen face first into his pillow, bouncing a little on the thick mattress, and grabs his phone - a new one  _again_ , he should really buy in bulk! - from the nightstand. He wouldn’t miss this, he promised he wouldn’t.

Curling up onto his side, he hits the speed dial and listens. One ring, two, three.

Then, “It’s pretty late over there, I thought you might’ve gone on a mission.”

Mac smiles, closing his eyes tiredly.  _Cage_. “No mission, just a runaway robot,” he replies.

A laugh.

“I’m  _serious_ ,” he says, pretending to be insulted by her apparent disbelief. “Jack feared we might’ve actually started the robot apocalypse for real! He wasn’t that far off, to be honest… I hate it when he’s right about something,” he grumbles.

Another laugh. “You have to tell me about that.”

“I will. But first,” his voice turns more serious, “how was physical therapy today?”

A sigh. “Exhausting. Painful.  _Frustrating_. And as much as I love my sister, and I really do, and as much as I appreciate her care - her mother-henning’s starting to get on my last nerve!”

She does sound a little annoyed. But also a lot fond. Mac understands that unlikely mix of feelings very well, having spent the last seven years under Jack’s care. He loves Jack but sometimes his helicopter parenting tends to be, well,  _too much_. And yet… Mac can’t even imagine doing without it. It’s  _inconceivable_.

“Ah, then everything’s as it should be,” he quips, amused.

“Ha-ha,” she responds, now a little annoyed with him, too.

He grins.

“You were saying about the robot?” Cage prompts, not at all subtly changing the subject.

Mac chuckles and pulls his blanket over him. Before, he was hot but now that the warmth from his shower faded, the room’s starting to feel chilly. “Yeah, well, it wasn’t actually a  _robot_ , it was an armored vehicle, a drone. And it didn’t run away on its own, it was hijacked.”

And so he tells her all about the Kormac Challenge and the sabotage and the stolen car and the satellite dish, buried under his blanket and slowly relaxing into the coziness of his soft,  _soft_ bed.

It’s nice, this. Their late night talks. He promised to keep Cage informed about their little family’s adventures - at least about those not labeled “classified” - and it’s become a regular thing, a ritual, helping them both unwind after a stressful day.

“Let me get this straight,” Cage says slowly when he’s done talking. “You jumped onto a hijacked military drone at 80 miles an hour? While there were jet fighters en route to turn that thing into a smoking heap of metal?”

Mac wiggles into a more comfortable position. “Well,  _yeah_ …” he says, not really getting what the problem is. It worked out, didn’t it?

She sighs. “Mac, I thought that, when you locked yourself in a room with a leaking canister of poisonous gas, it was a fluke. But you really do that on a regular basis, don’t you? Do you have a death wish or something?” She’s serious, it’s not a joke.

He pauses and when he responds, his voice’s serious, too. “I couldn’t let Allie die. If she hadn’t been in there, if it had been just an empty vehicle, I wouldn’t have taken such a risk. But I had to try and save Allie, I just had to. After what happened to Zoe, after what happened to you…” He swallows.

There’s a long silence on the other end of the line. Then Cage says in a soft, gentle voice, “You lied to me.”

Huh? What?

“Back then, on the island in the Bermuda Triangle. When I told you my worst fear was drowning - you told me yours were heights,” she reminds him.

“It’s true,” he assures her, frowning a little.

“No, it’s not,” Cage says, still as gently as before. “It’s losing the people who are close to you, isn’t it so? And that fear makes you take unreasonable risks. You wouldn’t hesitate to lay down your life for any one of us, would you? Zoe really was right, wasn’t she? If you had been in her place, you would’ve sealed the room and drowned to save the ship.”

Mac lets her words hang in the distance between them, not knowing how to respond to that. Because it’s the truth. If it came down to him or someone,  _anyone_ , on his team, he would sacrifice himself in a heartbeat. And without regret, too. It’s who he is.

As if reading his mind, Cage adds quietly, “It’s who you are.”

He clears his throat and says a little hoarsely, trying to deflect, “Yeah, well. I wouldn’t had to do  _anything_ crazy this time around, if I still had my Swiss Army knife with me, I’m sure of that.”

She recognizes what he’s doing - the smile in her voice when she responds is the proof - but she allows it. She’s a skilled interrogator and she knows how far she can push someone before they clam up.

“What happened to your knife?” Cage asks in a warm, amused voice.

“I gave it to a monkey,” he replies in an intentionally cheeky voice.

She laughs. “What?”

“Don’t ask for details, I can’t tell you the specifics, but it was a heroic deed that saved our lives. Though Jack’s now convinced that I started Planet of the Apes,” he jokes, the thickness in his throat easing slowly.

More laughter, easy and relaxed. “Well, I wouldn’t be surprised. He was right about the robot uprising, after all.”

Mac groans. “Don’t remind me. I’ll never hear the end of it!”

There’s a voice in the background, on the other end of the line, someone calling Cage, and she calls back, “I’ll be right there!” Then she tells Mac, “I have to go. My sister made dinner…”

They both pause for a moment, neither wanting to hang up.

“Take care of yourself, Mac,” Cage says in the end. “I love hearing about your mad adventures but… don’t get yourself killed, alright?”

He smiles. “I’ll do my best. I think I’m responsible for enough gray in Jack’s hair as it is.”

Softly, she adds, “I bet he has no regrets.”

And then they hang up, not really saying goodbye - just like they don’t really say hello - because they’ll talk again tomorrow, or maybe the day after, and it will be like no time has passed at all.


End file.
